The spring Career Fair is quickly approaching! This semester’s fair will be held on Thursday, February 13 from 11am-2pm in the RecPlex. The Career Fair is a unique opportunity to find out about internships, full-time job opportunities, and to network with professionals in a variety of industries. In order for you to get the most out of the fair, we’re going to cover the common Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) but we’re also going to go over what we’re calling Frequently Said Complaints (FSC’s).

FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions)

Who is coming?

If you log into Stags4Hire you will see a Career Fair section in the bottom left corner – click on the “Spring 2014 Career Fair” link and then click on the “Registered Organizations” link in the top left. This will give you the most current list of companies registered for the fair as well as the majors they are recruiting. While you’re on Stags4Hire, check out the internships and jobs that have been recently posted!

What do I wear?

Ideally, you will wear a suit. If you don’t have one here with you, consider taking a quick trip home to pick it up or ask your parents to ship it to you if you live far away. You can also find affordable suits at Marshall’s which is conveniently on the Stag shuttle route. If you have a car, check out the Good Will on the Post Road in Westport for some hidden gems. If you can’t get a suit, then you should dress as professionally as possible. No jeans or sweatpants, please.

What do I bring?

Copies of your resume, preferably on resume paper. Don’t have a resume or need to spruce yours up? Stop by drop-in hours Tuesday-Friday from 1:30-4:30pm and all day on Feb. 12. Have a great resume but no resume paper? Stop by the Career Planning Center to pick some up. You may want to bring a portfolio to put your resumes in and also so you can take notes as well as hold any business cards you collect.

What do I say?

You want to do as much research about the companies as you can before the fair which will help you ask better questions. You can start off the conversation by saying something, “Hi, my name is Lucas Stag and I’m a senior Psychology major with a Marketing minor.” What you say next can be totally up to you. Maybe you give them an idea of some of the things you’re involved in on campus, tell them about a relevant internship experience, or a related class. Perhaps you mention something you saw about the company when you researched them. You can talk with them about why you are interested in that particular industry as well. Most importantly, be yourself!

If you can, avoid asking the recruiter what the company does or anything else you can find doing a simple Google search.

FSC’s (Frequently Said Complaints)

There is nothing here for Arts & Sciences majors.

There is a misconception on campus that businesses only hire students from the Dolan School of Business which isn’t true at all. What is true is that there are some companies who require a particular skillset to work there (accounting, finance, etc.) but then there are many other companies who are very interested in hiring liberal arts majors. While some liberal arts majors will end up working for non-profits, government agencies, educational institutions, etc. the vast majority will work at the same exact places where their DSB friends got hired as well.

How come X company isn’t here?

Great question! There could be a variety of reasons why a particular company is not at the Career Fair. If it’s a very popular company (and that’s usually who people are looking for) then there is a good chance that they do not need to do any campus recruiting in order to attract recent graduates to apply. If there headquarters are far away from Fairfield they may choose to recruit more locally instead. The staff at Career Planning is constantly working to attract new companies to Fairfield so please let us know if there is a particular company that you would like to see at the fair in the future.

The Career Fair should be longer.

One reason why the Career Fair is 3 hours long is because that is the timeframe that employers have requested. When the Career Fair is spread out over a long period of time, there are always lulls and down periods where there aren’t many students there and employers are left with no one to talk to which may lead them to think it’s time to pack up and leave. A shorter period of time allows employers to maximize the time they spend on campus and also encourages students to come out to the fair early.

If you view the Career Fair as an opportunity to develop your networking skills then you can certainly get a lot out of it and it may just end up leading to an internship or job opportunity. We look forward to seeing you at the Career Fair and encourage you to come by our drop-in hours if you have any further questions on how to best prepare for the event.